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Spring Chinook season opens this Saturday |
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April 20, 2016 |
The spring Chinook salmon fishing season will
open Saturday, April 23, on parts of the
mainstem Clearwater, Middle Fork Clearwater,
South Fork Clearwater, Lochsa, Snake Lower
Salmon and Little Salmon rivers.
The returns of hatchery origin adult Chinook
salmon in 2016 are forecasted to be about 30
percent less than robust returns observed in
2015, but still among the top five observed
since 2000. Through April 13, over 3,000 adult
Chinook have crossed Bonneville Dam on the
Columbia River, while 25 adult salmon fish have
crossed Lower Granite Dam on the Snake River.
Fish and Game tailored the 2016 fisheries
proposals to meet hatchery broodstock needs,
focus fishing efforts in areas where hatchery
fish are most abundant, and still allow fishing
in river reaches that anglers have grown
accustomed to fishing in recent years.
In the Clearwater Basin, except for the South
Fork Clearwater River, limits are set at four
fish per day, only one of which may be an adult.
The possession limit in these parts of the
Clearwater River drainage will be twelve fish,
only three of which may be adults.
In the South Fork Clearwater, lower Salmon,
Little Salmon and Snake River fisheries, anglers
will be allowed to keep four fish per day, only
two of which may be adults. The possession limit
in these fisheries will be twelve fish, of which
only six may be adults.
These areas will be open seven days a week. The
season limit will be 20 adult Chinook salmon for
seasons prior to September 1.
Only hatchery origin Chinook salmon with a
clipped adipose fin, as evidenced by a healed
scar, may be kept. Only harvested adult Chinook
salmon must be recorded on the salmon permit.
Adult Chinook Salmon are those 24 or more inches
from the tip of the nose to the tip of the tail.
Chinook salmon less than 24 inches (jacks) count
against the daily limit but need not be recorded
on the salmon permit.
An angler must cease fishing for Chinook salmon
once they have retained their daily, possession,
or season limit of adult Chinook salmon or their
overall (fish of any size) daily or possession
limit of Chinook salmon, whichever comes first.
Other rules and special restrictions for the
Chinook salmon fishery are in the 2016 Spring
Chinook Salmon Seasons and Rules brochure
available at Fish and Game offices, license
vendors, and online at
http://fishandgame.idaho.gov/public/fish/?getPage=110.
The Commission will consider Chinook salmon
fisheries on the South Fork Salmon and Upper
Salmon rivers at its May 17 meeting in Coeur d’
Alene. Salmon return to these areas later than
to the Clearwater River and Rapid River
Hatcheries, giving managers more time to develop
fishery proposals for those areas.
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